White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed a report that the United States and world powers quietly agreed Iran could ignore restrictions on its uranium stockpile.

The Institute for Science and International Security said the U.S. and its negotiating partners in last summer’s nuclear deal secretly agreed to allow Iran to overlook some restrictions on its nuclear program, paving the way for the removal of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest. /AP

While admitting he has not “read the precise report”, Earnest refuted the notion that Teheran is not in compliance with the international agreement.

“The argument that somehow this agreement was implemented before Iran came into compliance is just not true,” he was quoted by The Hill as having told reporters on board Air Force One. He said, Iran “has been in compliance with the agreement” since Jan. 16, when the deal was implemented.

“Right now as we speak, Iran is in compliance with the agreement,” he said. “That’s not my opinion, that’s not rhetoric, that’s not conjecture. That is a fact that is verified by international experts.”

Earnest said the uproar over the new report is an attempt by Republicans and other administration critics to undermine the nuclear agreement.

“The report that we’ve seen and the rhetoric that it has prompted is entirely consistent with the failure of critics of the deal to tear it down,” he said.